Chapter 11 - The Brother in the Grave)
Thomas Mercer had been cremated.
Daniel remembered the funeral.
Rain.
A closed casket.
A priest speaking about addiction and despair.
Daniel had not viewed the body.
No one had.
The medical examiner’s report listed acute fentanyl toxicity.
Judge Colby had signed an order sealing toxicology attachments because of what the family attorney described as “privacy concerns.”
That attorney had died the following year.
Daniel stared at Colby across the federal interrogation table.
“Where is Thomas?”
Colby smiled.
“Protection first.”
Naomi said, “You’re in no position to negotiate.”
Colby looked at her.
“You don’t know who you’re negotiating against.”
“We know enough.”
“No, you have fragments.”
He turned toward Daniel.
“Your father built Haven’s vault system around leverage. Every member had evidence against another member. Mutual destruction prevented betrayal.”
“And Thomas?”
“Thomas stole the master ledger.”
“Why?”
“To burn Haven down.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Where is he?”
Colby’s gaze hardened.
“If I tell you, I die.”
“You’re already facing life in prison.”
“Prison is not what frightens me.”
Naomi slid a document across the table.
“Then tell us who does.”
Colby looked down.
Federal protective custody agreement.
His smile disappeared.
“You cannot protect me.”
“Try us.”
Colby laughed softly.
“The government has been trying to penetrate Haven for decades without knowing its name.”
Naomi’s eyes narrowed.
Colby looked at Daniel.
“You want your brother?”
Daniel said nothing.
“Find Caleb.”
Katherine’s son.
Thomas’s son.
“Where?”
“Your wife knew.”
“Rachel?”
“Rachel helped Thomas disappear.”
Daniel recoiled.
“What?”
“After the first attempt on Caleb’s life, Thomas wanted out. Your father stopped him. After Charles died, Thomas approached Rachel.”
Daniel remembered the photograph of them outside the restaurant.
“Rachel helped fake Thomas’s overdose?”
Colby nodded.
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because Thomas didn’t trust you.”
The answer cut deeper than Daniel expected.
“Why?”
“Because you were the perfect Mercer heir.”
Daniel stared.
“You believed your father. You believed the Foundation. You believed the company. Thomas believed you would protect the family name before the truth.”
Daniel wanted to deny it.
But Rachel had also kept secrets from him.
Perhaps for the same reason.
Naomi asked, “Where is Caleb now?”
Colby leaned back.
“I don’t know.”
“Where is Katherine?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who attacked her cottage?”
Colby looked surprised.
“What cottage?”
Daniel watched him carefully.
For the first time, Colby seemed genuinely confused.
Naomi changed direction.
“Who controls Haven?”
Colby’s face closed.
No answer.
Daniel placed his father’s letter on the table, covering the missing lower section.
“My father wrote the name.”
Colby’s eyes dropped toward it.
“He never would.”
“He did.”
“You don’t have it.”
Daniel studied him.
“How do you know?”
Colby’s expression gave him the answer.
“Because you removed it.”
Colby looked away.
Daniel stood.
“You were at the cottage.”
Silence.
“You took the bottom of the letter.”
Colby’s jaw tightened.
“Why?”
No answer.
Daniel slammed his palm onto the table.
“Who was the name?”
Colby flinched.
Then smiled.
“Ask Katherine why she cut it off.”
Daniel froze.
Colby had not removed it.
Katherine had.
Naomi leaned toward him.
“Why would Katherine protect Haven’s leader?”
Colby whispered, “Because blood is complicated.”
Daniel felt something move in his stomach.
Blood.
Family.
Someone he knew since childhood.
Someone his father trusted.
He thought of Eleanor.
Impossible.
Then Martin.
No.
Celeste.
No.
Old family friends.
Executives.
Lawyers.
Employees.
Dozens of people.
Colby watched him.
“You finally understand.”
“What?”
“The reason Haven survived Charles Mercer.”
Daniel waited.
Colby smiled.
“It was never controlled by one family.”
He leaned forward.
“It was controlled through families.”
Before he could say more, Naomi’s phone vibrated.
She looked at the screen.
Her face changed.
“We found Katherine Vale.”
Daniel stood.
“Alive?”
Naomi hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“A hospital in Portland, Maine.”
Daniel reached for his coat.
Naomi stopped him.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“She wasn’t admitted under Katherine Vale.”
Daniel waited.
May you like
Naomi looked directly at him.
“She was admitted as Katherine Mercer.”
